fitzgerald



N. PETERS. PHDTOMTHOGRAFHER. WASHINGTON. D CA UNIE STATES PATENT OFFICE DANL. FITZGERALD, OI NEW' YORK, N. Y.

PORTABLE HOUSE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 14,355, dated'lVIarch 4, 1856.

To @ZZ whom *it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL FITZGERALD, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a' new and useful Construction of Portable Houses; and I hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description.

To enable others to make and use my invention I proceed to describe its construction and arrangement, reference being had to the annexed drawings which make part of this specication.

I call it the pioneers cabin, as it is especially designed to be conveyed, ready constructed, into the forest or wilderness, and there be put up, by the labor of one or two men. Y

The drawings referred to areas follows: Figure l, an elevation of the front; the dimensions are supposed to be twelve feet by twelve for the base; Fig. 2, vertical section of the same; F ig. 3, plan; Fig. 4, window sill, enlarged; F ig.' 5, corner post, enlarged.

I prepare all the materials for the building, so that no nails are required to put it together. I have the weather boarding dressed in. boards) on both sides, and grooved and tongued. The boards are set with the tongues up. I first make the posts, say for a two story house, l2 ft. square; the rooms-8 ft. the irst story-7 feet the second story, in the clear. The posts will be 17 feet long. I then cut out a portion of the -timber so as to leave the cross section shaped thus Or I spike one piece upon another, thus:

I then prepare the inner strip so thatv then make the door and window frames in the ordinary manner and cut a channel down the sides, and at top and bottom, to

Ying' oists.

receive the weather boarding. I then pre-v pare the two opposite girders with mortises or gains 7 to receive the tenons of the floor- The girders for the other sides have channels to receive the loor plank.

To erect the house I set up the four posts and put in the four sills, which are constructed the same as the girders which support the upper floor. These sills have at each end a tongue which ts into the channel, E, in the post. I lay the flooring joists in the gains or `mortises and then lay the floor without nails but with tongues and grooves. The flooring plank is inserted into the four girders. 4Or, I make the girders, each in two pieces, and when the floor is laid upon the lower half of the girder I put on the upper half. I now set the weather boarding with the ends in the channels of the posts, E, and match them together. `The window and door frames are set in their places and the weather boarding adjoining also set in grooves in their sides. The top and bottom of the frames are grooved so that there will be a good connection with the weather boarding. Then the weather boarding h as reached the height of one story I put in the lower half of the four girders. I set in the iooring j oists and lay the floor. Then I put on the other half of the girders and then put in the residue of the weather boarding. The plate at top is merely a thicker weather board and one side being made a little higher than the other gives the pitch to the roof. Thus the weight of the roof the upper ioor and all rests on the weather boarding and continually presses the joints togethen The girders being thicker than the inclosingboards, make the bases of the room by their projection The different pieces of weather boarding are numbered or lettered so that when once fitted the house can be taken to pieces and put together again in the same manner.

Vhen the house is entirely erected and the weight of the roof, &c., has pressed together the weather boarding, I screw together the parts of the posts, either at the corner as represented in the drawings, by a set of screws or nails for each side 1What I claim as my invention and desire yto secure by Letters Patent is- 1. Constructing a house by inserting the weather' boarding ends into a channel, E, at the corner posts, A, B, substantially as above described.

2. The drawing together the parts of the posts A and B to secure the Weather boarding, it being held up against, A, by nails or screws.

3. The inserting the ends or tenons of the girders G, into the Channel, E, in such a manner that the Weight of the chamber floor, roof,l&o., may bear on the Weather boarding and press the joints together, as it may shrink, or allow it to rise when it swells. A

4:. The setting the girder in the same slot Y With the Weather boarding. 

